Overview
Boeing South Carolina is home to the company's second 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery facility. The site also fabricates, assembles and installs systems for aft (rear) fuselage sections of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and joins and integrates midbody fuselage sections. Completed aft and midbody sections are delivered to final assembly in Everett, Wash., via Dreamlifter, or are moved across the campus to final assembly in North Charleston, S.C. Boeing South Carolina builds all three versions of the 787 -- the 787-8, 787-9, and the newest and longest member of the family, the 787-10.
In 2011, Boeing opened the first of three facilities at the 141-acre north campus, 10 miles (16 km) from Boeing South Carolina's main campus. At the Interiors Responsibility Center South Carolina, teammates manufacture 787 interior parts, including stow bins, closets, partitions, class dividers, floor-mounted stow bins used by flight attendants, overhead flight-crew rests, overhead flight attendant crew rests, video-control stations and attendant modules for 787s assembled in South Carolina. In 2014, the north campus expanded with the opening of the Boeing Research & Technology Center, which focuses on advanced manufacturing technology and composite fuselage manufacturing; and Propulsion South Carolina, where the design and assembly of the 737 MAX engine nacelle inlet is done. The Propulsion South Carolina team also designs the 737 MAX engine nacelle fan cowl and the 777X nacelle.
History
Boeing South Carolina began in 2004 as two companies: Vought Aircraft Industries, Charleston Operations; and Global Aeronautica LLC. Global Aeronautica was a joint venture formed by Alenia North America and Vought in support of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program.
In June 2008, Boeing purchased Vought's share, making Global Aeronautica a joint venture of Boeing and Alenia North America. In July 2009, Boeing purchased Vought's North Charleston operations and in December purchased Alenia's portion of Global Aeronautica, dissolving the joint venture and creating Boeing Charleston (now Boeing South Carolina), a full Boeing site.
In October 2009, Boeing selected the North Charleston site for a new 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery line. Boeing broke ground on the new, 1.2-million-square-foot (116,794-m2) facility in November 2009. South Carolina teammates began early limited production in July 2011. The first airplane rolled out of final assembly on April 27, 2012, took its first flight on May 23, 2012, and delivered to Air India on Oct. 5, 2012.
In 2014, Boeing South Carolina broke ground on a new state-of-the-art, 256,000-square-foot (23,783-square-meter) decorative paint facility that opened in late 2016.
Quick Facts
- Boeing South Carolina was the company’s first 100 percent renewable energy site. Up to 20 percent of that energy is supplied by more than 18,00 thin-film solar panels (approximately 10 acres) installed on the roof of the 787 Final Assembly building. The solar panels generate up to 2.6 megawatts of energy to power the entire plant as well as the giant autoclaves used to produce the 787 fuselage.
- Boeing South Carolina became the fourth Boeing site to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill status in 2011. No waste generated at the site goes to landfill.
- Since Sept. 2012, Boeing South Carolina has reached more than 100,000 middle and high school students through its DreamLearners Tour Program and Speakers Bureau.
- 18,000 tons (16,329 mt) of structural steel and 450,000 bolts were used to build the 1.2 million square-foot 787 Final Assembly building.
- The Final Assembly building is nearly a fifth of a mile long (1,041 ft, or 317 m), and an eighth of a mile wide (618 ft, or 188 m).